Chips of Chocolate
by Corrupted Desires
Summary: Sequel to Animality: A combination of pranks turns into a dangerous blend... For Fred, George and Moody! The Order has been turned into kids and their only hope lies in the hands of the Weasley Twins! COMPLETE
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer:** Pay attention, cause I'm not gonna post this in any other chapters in this story... I do not own Harry Potter or any characters or concepts directly linked to that series. That should cover it. _:plots to kidnap a certain set of twins to make up for that fact:_

**A/N:** This story is the sequel to my fic _Animality. _If you haven't read that one first, some aspects of this story won't make much sense. It's not required reading, but it might help. Now, on with the tale!

* * *

Ginevra Weasley was seated at the kitchen table in Number 12 Grimmauld Place flipping through a photo album. It was early January of her sixth year and the entire Wizarding World seemed to be on vacation. And why shouldn't they be? Her boyfriend Harry Potter had defeated Voldemort only a week before and that was something worth celebrating. Hogwarts was temporarily closed as wizard construction workers repaired the damage done in the battle. It hadn't helped that her older brother had turned into a dragon in the middle of the Great Hall and tore the roof off the place, literally!

In any event, Ginny was now looking through old pictures because she had noticed something that always seemed to elude them during the fact. A sleepy sound drew her attention to the fact that Harry had joined her in the kitchen and she smiled sweetly while waiting for her mother and Dobby to finish fixing lunch. After a few moments of silence, Ginny finally turned the album to Harry, showing him two of the pictures.

"Did you notice this before?"

Bleary emerald eyes turned to look at the album. "Notice what?"

"This!" Ginny pointed to two of the pictures, waiting patiently for Harry to notice what she was trying to point out to him. No luck.

"Wow, that was a long time ago... But I guess my brain is too sleepy to figure this one out, love."

Blushing slightly at the endearment, Ginny rolled her eyes and pointed again. "Why didn't any of us notice this before?" She asked and, before Harry could become further confused, she explained what disturbed her about the pictures. "Look at your wings, Harry! When you're in your hybrid form, your feathers are black and tipped with silver." She then pointed at the picture next to it. "But when you're in your pegasus form, they're silver with black tips. It's a big difference, yet none of us ever seemed to notice before!"

Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and yawning, Harry leaned closer to the photo album as Draco and Neville decided to arrive for lunch. "Well I'll be... Why didn't any of us notice that before?" He looked up and squawked, falling backwards out of his chair at the sight of Neville.

Neville laughed. "You know, no matter how many times that happens, it still cracks me up." His voice was deep and rumbled pleasantly as he chuckled and Draco snickered with him. Neville was still under the influence of the Animality potion he had taken over the Christmas Holidays to prepare for the battle against the Death Eaters and tended to startle people. After all, no one really expected Neville's form and the sight of an eight foot tall, heavily muscled, dark brown bear hybrid tended to startle people that weren't quite awake.

Still snickering, Draco said a thanks to Molly Weasley as she brought a plate of sandwiches over to the table. "Now I know why you never made it to the Alpha list in my pack instincts, Potter. If Longbottom scares you..."

Ginny somehow managed not to laugh as she helped Harry back into his seat.

Scowling, his cheeks flaming, Harry just flipped Draco off while Molly wasn't looking and reached for a sandwich. "So where are the pack Alphas anyway?"

Neville's brown fur covered his blush, but they could hear it in his voice. "Umm... Well, I walked by their room on my way down, I don't think they'll be joining us for a while."

Molly tutted, seating herself to take her own lunch before everyone else woke up. Dobby continued fixing sandwiches with an enthusiasm that exhausted even the youngest Weasley. Everyone paused to see what she was going to say about the situation. "I don't mind it and all, but it really is irritating when those three don't remember to use silencing charms."

A moment of silence before everyone laughed delightedly.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Meanwhile, upstairs a rather different activity was going on that those below had suspected...

"Right foot green."

Hermione stretched, reaching around Fred until her right foot was placed upon the green circle. "I can't believe _this_ is what you two drug me in here for." It was hard to tell if she was amused or annoyed.

"C'mon, Wildcat. You know we've always wanted to play this game with you. Ever since you first told us about it..." George waggled his brows as he reached once more for the spinner. "Left hand blue."

Fred wormed around from his spot in between Hermione and George, straining for the blue circle. With only two more inches to reach, his right arm gave out and he collapsed causing all three to hit the floor with a thud.

Hermione cheered. "You know what that means... Shirt off!"

Scowling slightly, Fred tugged his shirt off. "Are you sure this is how Muggles play this game? I don't remember seeing anything about having to take off articles of clothing when you fall..."

"Of course this is how you play." Hermione's eyes sparkled and her mischievous smile prevented either twin from refuting her statement. "Ready for the next round?"

"Absolutely..."

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Late that afternoon, as Harry, Ginny, Ron, Draco, Hermione, Neville, Luna and Colin fixed up the dining room for yet another victory party that night, Sirius Black amused himself by pestering Molly as she and Dobby worked on preparing the feast.

"Are you sure you're not going to make a chocolate pudding?" Sirius asked for perhaps the fiftieth time in the last half hour.

"No chocolate pudding today. We had it at last night's party." Molly stirred the cookie dough she was mixing and turned to Dobby. "Dobby, dear... Do you know where the chocolate chips are?"

Dobby nodded enthusiastically before scampering off into the cupboard.

"Are you going to shape them like dog biscuits?" Sirius had only asked that one about ten times.

Molly refrained from smacking him upside the head. "Honestly, Sirius! How old are you anyway?" She continued to mix the dough.

"Old enough to admit that the occasional dog biscuit helps keep my teeth clean!"

That time Sirius did get smacked upside the head.

"Ow! Does Arthur know that you're hitting on other men?"

"Sirius Black if you don't get out of this kitchen and let me cook I we will be serving Sirius Steaks for dinner and no one will ever suspect!" Molly brandished a cleaver at Sirius, the bowl of dough now set on the counter as she glared at the tall, black haired man.

Sirius gave Molly a cheeky grin and snagged a bit of dough before scampering out of the kitchen.

Shaking her head, Molly looked around. "Dobby! Where are those chips?"

Dobby appeared, almost falling over in his enthusiasm. "Sorry! I had to look for them, they wasn't on the shelf." Dobby held out the bag and hopped up on the counter, mixing together another batch of cookie dough, this time sugar.

"Honestly, this place would fall apart without me here..." Molly smiled happily as she dumped the chocolate chips into the dough and mixed it together.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

That night, before heading down to the party, Fred and George had decided to get some more work done on one of their joke products. It wasn't until they were putting things away that they noticed anything was wrong.

"Hey Fred... What happened to our Chip Off The Old Block Chocolates?"

Fred turned to at the question, spying the place on the shelf where the chocolate chip bag had been sitting. He thought for a moment before turning to look at his twin. "Mum was making chocolate chip biscuits earlier. You don't think..."

A grin formed on George's face, one matched by Fred. "Let's go down and see who ate them!"

Charging down the stairs and into the dining room, Fred and George froze at the scene. Alastor Moody stood stock still in the middle of the room, his good eye twitching as he neared explosion. Surrounding him were no less than a dozen, probably more, five to eight year old kids.

Some of the kids were crying for their mums, some were fighting, one bear-like little boy was screaming at the top of his lungs and a little black haired girl was chasing after a little brown haired boy that was wearing half-moon glasses and shrieking with laughter. A little girl with fluffy brown hair was showing something in a book to a little boy with black hair and eyes.

Alastor's magic eye spied the twins and he turned to look at them accusingly. "What did you do to them? They've been going on like this for twenty minutes!" A vein in his forehead looked as if it were about to explode.

Fred turned to look at his twin. "Um, Prints... Weren't those chocolates supposed to wear off after ten minutes?"

George's eyes, glued to what he assumed was the childish version of their girlfriend, slowly backed away from the room... "Tracks... I think we've got a big problem."

Turning, Fred caught sight of Mad-Eye starting to make his way around the kids and toward them. "Right... I see that you've got everything under control here, Moody... We'll just... Run along now."

Without giving the peg-legged ex-Auror a chance, the twins tore off in separate directions as they searched for the nearest exit points in the house!

* * *

**A/N:** :snickers: This idea came to me somewhere around chapter 12 of Animality and after writing that chapter I had the brilliant idea to turn it into the sequel. I hope everyone else finds it as amusing as I do!

**Sneak Peek:**

_A bruised George placed the chocolate chip biscuits on the worktable while an equally bruised Fred retrieved their testing kit. "Those stupid chips should have worn off ages ago..."_

_"Yeah, but Dictator Mad-Eye won't let us leave until either we fix an antidote or it wears off." Fred paused, looking at the shelf thoughtfully. "What I don't get is why they don't remember they're older. When we tested them we didn't forget ourselves."_

_George shrugged, carefully cutting up one of the biscuits. He paused. "Wait.. Wasn't Sirius planning on playing a prank at one of the parties sometime this week?"_

_Fred snarled, eyes shifting to gold as his body bulked up into his large tiger hybrid form. "That just figures. We never tested how those chips might react to other prank type ingredients!"_

**End Sneak Peek** Tune in next time!


	2. Getting To Know You

A/N: Sorry, took a bit longer to write this than I was hoping. My muse took a decidedly naughty turn and that just wouldn't fit in this story! No, I didn't indulge my muse, so don't bother looking for naughty fics from me! _:sticks out tongue:_ Someone asked me why Hermionewould have two boyfriends. Who wouldn't want_both_ Fred _and_ George? _:gets a wide-eyed look:_ You can't have one without the other, ya know. The whole twins being a package deal, double your pleasure, double your fun and all that good stuff! I am an official Hermione/Twins shipper. Sorry to those that don't agree with that tripairing. _:smiles:_ On with the story!

* * *

A black-eyed and tousled George Weasley was dragged into the dining room by Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody. Moody grunted, dropping the twin down onto someone's feet. George looked up, grinning when he saw a bruised Fred tied to a chair and gagged. Fred returned the grin around the gag. 

"I always knew you were a kinky old coot, Mad-Eye." George mentally added another bruise to his count when Alastor whacked him upside the head for that comment.

"Now as fun as that was, you two aren't leaving me alone with these monsters." His magically eye swivelled around, taking in the kids still running rampant around the dining room. Thankfully he had sealed it before chasing down the twins. "First things first, we need to get these brats identified, they aren't as easy to tell apart at this age."

Just then a tiny mew came and the scratching sound of claws on wood caused Alastor to look down. The vein in his forehead throbbed again as he observed the tiny ginger fluffball with a bottlebrush tail using his wooden leg as a scratching post.

George chuckled and picked up the kitten. "Heh... Umm.. So I wonder who gave Crookshanks a biscuit?" Without waiting for an answer, George hopped up and untied Fred all in the same move. "Listen up kiddies! Now that you're at the Fantabulous Forge and Gred's Daycare, we need you to line up so we can all learn each other's names!" He held Crookshanks up to help catch the attention of the little girls in the room.

Fred jumped right in, holding up name tags that he had conjured on the spot. "I am the Fantabulous Gred, and this is my brother Forge." He pointed at George. "When we learn your name, we'll write it down and even give you a nifty nickname."

As George introduced the kids to Meanie Moody and Crooks, Fred cast several quick accio spells and soon had all of their wands in his possession. He handed these over to Moody for safe keeping. He was glad that their wands hadn't shrunk with their clothing when the chocolates had taken affect. Once that was done, he turned to help George. Kneeling, Fred found himself looking into the chocolate eyes of his girlfriend...

"This place doesn't look like any daycare I've ever seen before. Aren't we a bit old for daycare? We should all be in school, you know." The little girl put her hands on her hips. "My name is Hermione Jane Granger by the way." She proceeded to spell her name out for Fred as if he were a simpleton.

Fred couldn't help but share a smile with George before turning back to Hermione. "Well thank you, Miss Granger. I believe you have just earned your nickname." Pretending to use his wand as a pen, Fred wrote a name tag and pinned it to her blouse. "Now little Wildcat, think you can hold onto Crooks for us while we take care of the others?" He prayed she had been a teacher's pet even at her current young age.

"I suppose so, though I'm sure we're supposed to be in school." Hermione narrowed her eyes at Fred, snatching Crookshanks into her arms where the kitten immediately melted against his mistress though neither currently knew that. "I'll just go help round up the others... Though you might want to help those two out of their costumes, they seem scared." Pointing at little Neville and little Charlie, Hermione turned her nose into the air and swept off to round up the others.

Taking their mini-girlfriend's advice, Fred and George went over to Neville and Charlie. Taking a moment after picking the 'costumed' kids up, George whistled loudly. "Weasleys front and center!" As if used to such summons, three little boys and a little girl were soon standing in front of the twins.

"You look kinda like our dad. But not really." The twins looked horrified down at little Ginny. She grinned up at them with a sweet little angel expression. "I'm Ginny and this is my brother Ron." She pointed at the little boy that looked perhaps a year older than her.

Charlie lifted his head, the shimmery blue skin and long, dark blue hair and spikes making him seem anything but a Weasley. "You can't be Ron." He narrowed his crimson eyes at the boy named Ginny called 'Ron'. "Ron's just a baby, Mum only had him a month ago." His eyes seemed to catch fire and he looked at the boy with longer red hair. "Bill! That's not Ron, is it?"

"Bill?" Little Ron sounded outraged. "Bill's taller! And he's supposed to be in school! I'm gonna tell mum!"

George gnawed on his lower lip, he should have known something like this would happen. Sharing a glance with his twin, they both knelt down so that the Weasleys and Neville were in a huddle. "Listen, we all know about magic, right? Well something happened and things have changed. That's why Charlie here looks like a dragon." He carefully stretched out one of Charlie's leathery wings. "And why Neville here looks like a bear." He patted the cub's head. "But see, Wildcat over there." Here he pointed to where Hermione was talking to little Harry and little Kingsley. "Her parents are muggles and we haven't had a chance to tell her about magic yet. We'll explain later, okay?"

When Neville and the Weasleys nodded, Fred smiled. A wave of his wand and they all had nametags... Some of which had nicknames.

"Blu... Blood...Paw! That's so gross!" Ginny made a face.

"Socks! Ha! They named me after socks!"

"FireEye? Wicked!"

"No fair! I don't have a nickname." Bill pouted.

Before much more could be said, a shrill screech came from across the room. They turned to see a terrified Hermione staring at a grey tabby kitten and a little black haired boy with emerald eyes fainting.

"She turned into a cat and killed him!" Hermione screeched.

Fred and George shared another look. Rolling their eyes, they said one word in unison.

"McGonagall."

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

The kids all now had nametags and were seated around the dining room table that was suspiciously free of chocolate chip biscuits. The rest of the feast was still there, though and the kids were eating as they listened to 'Forge and Gred' explain things. Of course trying to make a five to nine year old child understand that they really should be anywhere from sixteen to a hundred and fifty years old isn't an easy task...

"Magic isn't real..." That was Harry, looking very skittish and ready to fly off at the drop of a knut. Good thing he didn't yet know he was capable of doing that. "Where's Aunt Petunia?"

Fred considered this question carefully. "Harry... I know this won't be easy for you, but you don't live with your aunt and uncle anymore. You actually live here."

A gasp came from one of the other boys and Fred turned to see Sirius staring at him. "But... This is my house!" Tears started to well up in Sirius' grey eyes. "If he lives here, where do I live?" His lower lip trembled.

Fred panicked, glancing quickly at George. George rolled his eyes at his brother and walked over. Taking a deep breath, he kneeled and hugged Sirius. "Don't worry, Sirius. You live here too. We all live here..."

"Really?" Sirius sniffled, wiping his nose on his sleeve. Once he received a confirming nod from George, Sirius turned to Severus. "You hear that Sev! You finally get to live with me!"

Both George and Fred nearly fainted from shock when Severus cheered and threw his arms around Sirius. The two black haired boys did a little happy dance while the twins twitched as if mentally disturbed. Once the boys finished their dance, the twins turned back to the matter at hand.

"Now, Harry... And Hermione. I know this is a greater shock to you two because you come from non-magic families, but trust me, you two love it here."

Hermione, ever the shrewd young lady, narrowed her eyes at the twin and he couldn't help but gulp and take a step back. After all, he was well trained in Emergency Wizard Survival Tactics... "What do you mean we 'love' it here? I certainly don't remember being in this place before today. Don't you mean we 'will love' it here?" One of her brows raised questioningly.

Clearing his throat, George nodded. "Right... See, that's the other thing. A magic spell enchanted all of you. You're actually older... In some of your cases _much_ older than you are at the moment." George looked around, nineteen young faces staring blankly at him while one stared off at one wall with a dreamy expression. _At least some things never change..._

"That's bloody stupid. You can't make someone younger." George gaped at his miniaturized girlfriend as a dangerous expression grew on her face. "I demand to be returned to my parents! If you return me now I'm make certain you aren't thrown into jail too long for kidnapping me!"

Fred, after watching for a few moments, decided to speak. "Hermione, dear... Do cats fly?"

Startled by the odd question, Hermione turned her best 'are you stupid?' look on Fred. "Of course they don't fly. Did your mother drop you on your head when you were a baby?"

"Possibly." Fred admitted easily. He whipped out his wand. "Windgardium Leviosa."

With the incantation, the orange fluffball feline that had been sitting next to Hermione on her chair rose into the air. Crookshanks didn't take too kindly to the sudden change and was hissing as he twisted around in place four feet above everyone's heads. Hermione gave a startled yelp and tumbled off the chair. Poor Harry looked as if he were about to faint again.

Wincing, Fred lowered the cat back down and went to check on Hermione. Helping her up, he knelt to look into her eyes. "Hermione. If cats don't fly, what do you call that?" He could see the battle in her eyes. She hated being proven wrong. Good thing she didn't seem to hear the snickers coming from some of the pureblood kids. "Trust me. I would never lie to you."

Giving Hermione a kiss on the forehead that thankfully sent the girl into a flustered blush and rendered her temporarily incapable of arguing. Fred was thankful for small favors.

"Now, everyone lives here..." Ok, so maybe he did lie from time to time, but he wasn't exactly going to send Albus, Minerva and Severus to live at Hogwarts in their condition!

"And everyone here is really a grown up." Not entirely true for Ginny and Luna who were still technically underage.

"We're trying to find a way to turn you back, so until then, we'll need all of you to help us."

Was George the only one to find it disturbing that Sirius and Severus were whispering to eachother while sending evil looks toward Hermione and Harry?

"Do you all think you can help us?"

Wasn't there supposed to be a charm on the house to keep the cricket chirps out of the building?

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

The rest of dinner had gone surprisingly smoothly. Fred and George were quickly reminded that this was because the younger one was, the more sleep they required. Though they hadn't been able to laugh about it at the time, they would never forget finding Draco Malfoy slumped against the table with his perfect hair in the gravy. Though that could have been because Fred had slipped a mild sleeping potion into all of their goblets...

Having seen neither hide nor hair of Moody since the ex-Auror had vanished earlier, the twins were left to carry the sleeping kids up to their beds. Though this reminded them of yet another problem they had forgotten.

"George..."

"What is it, Fred?"

George had been holding Hermione since she had fallen asleep and didn't seem inclined to set her down. Fred didn't even question the paternal look on his twin's face since he knew it was on his own. If there was something Weasleys were good for, it was this type of situation.

"We need to come up with new sleeping arrangements. We can't exactly get through the wards on some of the rooms and I don't think Hermione or Ginny would appreciate waking up in their current beds."

Giving a reluctant sigh, George nodded. "Will stick the girls into the room Ginny and Hermione used back before the switch then."

Fred scooped Ginny up into his arms and the twins carried the girls up the stairs. "Wonder where Moody went off to." He looked around as if the paranoid Mad-Eye were going to appear at any moment.

"Dunno, but remind me to make sure we slip him one of those biscuits when this is all over." George placed Hermione on the bed, brushing her hair out of her face. Giving his girlfriend a kiss goodnight, he went back downstairs to collect one of the other girls.

Later, as they were finishing carrying the boys upstairs, George frowned when he realized he was carrying Severus Snape. "Am I going mental or was Sirius acting as if Snape was his best friend earlier?"

Giving a soft chuckle, Fred agreed. "We're going to have to find Colin's camera and take pictures. This will be good blackmail for later." After a few moments, he looked thoughtful. "Though I wonder what happened to cause them to hate eachother so much."

"The world may never know..."

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Meanwhile, in another part of the house, an sinister chuckle could be heard rumbling within the confines of a dark room...

* * *

A/N: Sorry this wasn't better. My muse has been acting strangely... And Iwas too lazy to run it through a spell check.I'll try to do a bit better in the next chapter. Oh yeah, I know I said thatsneak peek would be in this chapter, but I just plain changed my mind as I was writing. I'll add it in soon, promise!Please be kind.. 


	3. Fred's Mistake

**A/N:** Okay folks, I'm just going to outright say it...

**Pairings: **Fred/Hermione/George, Harry/Ginny, Neville/Luna, Albus/Minerva, Molly/Arthur, Bill/Fleur, Remus/Nymphadora, Sirius/Half-The-Women-In-The-Country... Though there will** _not _**be much of any of the pairings at all in this fic as most of the characters range from 5-8 years old!

I hope that clears some things up. Sorry to those that don't like those pairings. But, like I've mentioned, there won't be much active romance at all. But it really depends on a few things. I guess you'll just have to wait and see!

* * *

Once all the children had been tucked into the various rooms, Fred turned to George. "Now, what do you say we go find out where the fearless Alastor Moody ran off to?" Making it no further than turning around to head to the stairs, Fred let out a rather girly shriek. 

George, who had been turning as well, joined in the shriek, though his was because Fred's shrill voice had startled him. "Damn-it Fred, don't do that!" George turned to look at the reason for Fred's scream and crossed his arms over his chest. "Moody..." He narrowed his eyes at the older man.

His magical eye spinning in place, Moody used his good eye to glare at the twins. "I certainly hope you weren't planning on going anywhere except to your lab to find a cure." He held up a pan that was covered in all the rest of chocolate chip biscuits.

"That's where those went!" Fred seemed cheerful once he had recovered from his shock. He swiped up the pan. "If you wanted some biscuits all you had to do was ask..."

His glare hardening, Alastor clouted Fred upside the head. "Get to work or you two will never see the light of day again!" He turned and clumped back through the house, noisy now that he'd already gotten his kicks by startling the twins...

"Don't worry, Moody! We still love you!" George grinned at Fred and the twins scampered to their room.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

The bruised and battered George placed the chocolate chip biscuits on the worktable while an equally battered Fred retrieved their testing kit. "Those stupid chips should have worn off ages ago..."

"Yeah, but Dictator Mad-Eye won't let us leave until either we fix an antidote or it wears off." Fred paused, looking at the shelf thoughtfully. "What I don't get is why they don't remember their older selves. When we tested them we didn't forget anything."

George shrugged, carefully cutting up one of the biscuits. After a moment, he paused. "Wait.. Wasn't Sirius planning on playing a prank at one of the parties sometime this week?"

Fred snarled softly, eyes shifting to gold as his body bulked up into his large tiger hybrid form. "That just figures. We never tested how those chips might react to other prank type ingredients!" He stormed out of the room.

Humming in thought, George couldn't resist thinking about the young version of their girlfriend. She was absolutely adorable. With the little Hermione running around, not to mention all the waist high red heads, George couldn't help having certain thoughts. Before those thoughts could get far, his twin returned.

"Found it." Fred held up a pouch filled with an almost clear white powder. "This stuff is supposed to make you act like a kid. That's not something that should be mixed with our chips!" He looked indignant, though thankfully he wasn't in his tiger hybrid form anymore.

"Though it is kind of funny. We should make another version of the chips that include that powder... Once we work out the antidote at any rate..."

"Brilliant."

"Hey, look. Here are Hermione's notes on the Animality potion." George held up the find. He had been searching for their notes on the Chip Off The Old Block Chocolates, but his and Fred's notes tended to migrate and sometimes Hermione's were kidnapped. He looked at them curiously as Fred came over.

"Finally, I've been wanting to see those since she started studying the potion with Snape." After a moment, he added, "Her thoughts certainly do wander when taking notes..."

Fred and George read through the notes curiously...

(**A/N:** I figured some people might be a bit interested in more info on the Animality forms... The notes are italics with potion names bold, Hermione's idle thoughts in the notes are italic and underlined and Fred and George's comments are plain text.)

_**---------------------------------------------------**_

_**Animality Potion Research**_

_Forms forced upon the body seem to take on an animal aspect most closely related to the emotional state of the victim. The initial transformation is painful, Stupid Peeves, and seems to always result in one to five days of unconsciousness. Only after awakening it is safe to take the **Animality Booster Potion** which allows an Animality to assume both the full and hybrid form of their animal. The Booster is wicked cool..._

"I remember that. Thought poor Colin was going to die when he tried to take both potions at the same time."

"Since when does she use the phrase 'wicked cool?'"

_Tests upon three subjects reveal that Animagi are immune to the effects of the Animality. Bloody funny watching Sirius rant because he couldn't have two forms. Further testing reveals that werewolves and veela are also immune. Not that Fleur or Remus really minded..._

_It is possible for a new Animality form to be chosen. For which Colin is very thankful. One must take the antidote, wait two weeks for the potions to fully clear their system, then take the Animality potion once more with a different emotional state held at the fore. Like he'd ever manage to be anything more than a hamster..._

_The **Advanced Animaility Potion** only works if a person has only had one animality form. The advanced formula combines the **Animality Potion** with the **Booster Potion** and draws the form from a pattern trapped in the DNA of a person. To trap the form pattern, one must remain in Animality form for more than a month. Which can be fun!_

"DNA? What's DNA?"

"Beats me..."

_Unlike the Animagus transformation, an Animality is not restricted in form. The Animality form can literally be any animal existing with a person's mind... As Harry Potter was first to demonstrate. As long as the person's mind knows exactly how the animal's body should be constructed from the inside out. God Luna's creepy..._

"Still bloody creeps me out how Lovegood actually turned into a Crumple-Horned Snorkack..."

"No kidding! Then her reason for taking the antidote after the battle: 'I want to find a Crumple-Horned Snorkack, not be one!'"

The twins shared a laugh.

_Plans for further testing will include finding the answer if an Animality form would bypass or be affected by a person's physical limitations. Must get Moody to agree somehow... Ropes and a sleeping draught?_

_Full and hybrid Animality forms are immune to the bite of a werewolf. Further testing is needed to determine if an Animality in human form would be immune as well and which aspect would win if they were not. Note to self: Modify the **Wolfsbane Potion** this summer to taste the same but have no effect._

_Studies will be conducted to reveal what affects the **Animality Potion** has on those of advanced age. Bloody Dumbledore standing in the way of science... He just doesn't want to see himself turn into a meddling old coot, I bet..._

_**---------------------------------------------------**_

That seemed to be all Hermione had managed to note down so far. Though the twins had only found one page. She could have more stashed away somewhere, but they knew better than to get too nosy with her things.

The twins laughed over the notes, putting the parchment back with Hermione's other potions notes and turned back to their own project. They had to get the others cured, and soon!

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

It seemed that George had only been sleeping for an hour before he was jolted from his sleep by a shrill scream. "Shuddup Fred..." But even as he attempted to quiet his brother, a second scream pierced the air. _Wait, that's not Fred... _George jolted out of bed and darted for the door.

**CRACK!**

George suddenly found himself sprawled on the floor with golden snitches darting around his head and no recollection of how he had arrived in such a state.

"Way to go, Genius." Fred's amused voice sang. "Try opening the door next time!"

Out the door, down the stairs and flinging open a door, wands at the ready... Their confused gazes fell upon a strange scene. A screaming blond was sitting in the middle of a large bed. Tears streamed down her cheeks and she ranted between screams in what could only be French. Four other girls surrounded her, giving her reassuring hugs while two of the girls spoke what was presumably soothing words to the girl.

Looking decidedly uncomfortable, Fred asked. "Is everything ok?"

The little black haired girl peered at Fred with a stern expression. "She says she had thought it was all a bad dream and that she would wake up at home." Fred winced at Minerva's tone. "I don't think she wants to see you two now. She's blaming you."

Giving a nod, the twins left the girls to whatever it was girls did when comforting each other. Turned out that nearly all of the boys had been awakened by the screams as well.

His tummy grumbling in an intimidating manner, the little fur covered bear of a Neville asked.. "So, what's for breakfast?"

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Breakfast hadn't gone too badly. The girls had made a fashionably late appearance, which thankfully was after the boys had gotten their minor food fight out of their systems. The twins had been shocked that it was Albus that had started the food fight by flinging food across the table at the conspiring Severus and Sirius duo. Of course those two had to retaliate...

The girls had been unimpressed by the mess that Fred and George were cleaning upon their arrival. Though the lime green locked Tonks and Ginny had both seemed disappointed that they had missed the battle. The twins received yet another glare from Minerva that made them wonder if she was starting to get her memories back. But the next moment she was chirping about little girl things and the thought went out the window.

A couple more waves of their wands and the boys were cleaned. Which was helpful as the twins didn't really want to worry about trying to give them baths. Wand cleaning could only go so far, but while the kids were still relatively fresh, they were getting wand washed...

"I'm going to go back up and work more on the cure. Think you can handle the kids by yourself?" George looked skeptically at his twin.

Fred looked indignant. "Of course I can handle them. What do you take me for?" He gestured to the kids that were quietly finishing their breakfasts. "See? Now that the fight is out of their systems, they'll be a piece of cake to tend to."

"Well, if you're sure..." And George was gone in the blink of an eye.

Shaking his head, Fred mumbled to himself about how silly George was to think he couldn't handle the kids. They were so well behaved! He turned back to the table and automatically took a step back in fright...

All twenty of the youthened witches and wizards were staring at him much like the kids in the _Children of the Corn_ movie that Hermione had taken the twins to see last summer...

"Umm... So who wants to play Exploding Snap?" Fred held out the deck hopefully.

Fred hoped that some day he would see the humor in watching twenty pairs of eyes narrow in unison as the kids rose from the table...

* * *

A/N: For those that don't know, or in case I forgot to mention, the twenty order members turned into children are: Albus Dumbledore, Minerva McGonagall, Severus Snape, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Molly Weasley (though she still think's she's a Prewitt), Author Weasley, Bill Weasley, Charlie Weasley, Ronald Weasley, Ginevra Weasley, Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood, Hermione Granger, Harry Potter, Fleur Delacour, Nymphadora Tonks, Colin Creevey, Draco Malfoy... And let's not forget about Crookshanks! Anyway, I hope people liked this update.** :offers out candy and cookies...none with chocolate chips: _Happy Halloween!_**


	4. Joys of Babysitting

In all fairness, when George left Fred with the kids, the first thing he did was to see if he could find Moody. His search only revealed the dim glow of at least half a million locking charms and ward on the door of the room Moody used when staying at Headquarters. Chuckling at the mental image of the old ex-Auror barricaded in his room, wand at the ready and magical eye scanning for any hint of the kids, George moved along swiftly. After all, one never could tell if Moody would have a ward set up for if someone lingered near his room too long...

Making his way into the room he was currently sharing with just his brother, George paused as a shrill scream came from downstairs. A huge grin split his face as the sound of all Hell breaking loose came from below. Walking the rest of the way into his room, he closed and locked the door before heading over to the lab he, Fred and Hermione had set up in the small adjoining room. According to Sirius when he gave them the room, the room used to be for a baby and the small adjoining room was for the nanny. The small room made the perfect lab for those that didn't mind working in crowded quarters.

Whistling softly, pausing to grin when the occasional loud noise came from below, George got to work on antidotes. He had to find an antidote for both the Chip Off The Old Block Chocolates and the Childish Antics Powder then find a safe combination of the two. This wasn't going to be easy when his thinking partner was currently being tormented. Allowing himself a laugh at Fred's situation, George settled himself down to work.

Several hours later, George's stomach informed him that Fred had yet to show up for their swap. He frowned down at the potions he was working with and headed to the door. Opening the door, George couldn't help but feel a bit nervous at the eerie silence coming from the house. In a place that currently had twenty kids racing around, it was too quiet.

Gulping, George secured the door to the room and made his way out into the house. There were a few articles of various clothing scattered here and there that hadn't been out before and he curiously ventured forth. Downstairs it seemed as if the kitchen had exploded, the mess seemed to be leading toward the library. Opening the doors, Geoge took in the scene, his eyes growing wide...

"What in the _hell_ is going on?"

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Let us now turn back time several hours. Timeturners at the ready? Good...

_All twenty of the youthened witches and wizards were staring at him much like the kids in the _Children of the Corn _movie that Hermione had taken the twins to see last summer..._

_"Umm... So who wants to play Exploding Snap?" Fred held out the deck hopefully._

_Fred hoped that some day he would see the humor in watching twenty pairs of eyes narrow in unison as the kids rose from the table..._

It seemed as if the Order members turned children were waiting for a signal as they stood. Fred became a bit more confident when they did nothing; though the way they stared still gave him the creeps. After all, they had only just 'met' eachother the previous day, right? They were still in the 'getting to know each other' stage, right? ... Right?

Whatever Fred may or may not have said to the twenty youngsters would never be heard as in the precise moment that he opened his mouth, the signal they were waiting for arrived... In the form of a small grey tabby cat leaping up onto the table. The cat soon shifted back into the form of Mini-Minerva and the little girl pointed a finger at Fred.

"Get him!"

The signal given, for apparently McGonagall's discovered ability to turn into a cat gave her the role of Leader, the children charged.

Fred turned to run, a rather girly shriek coming from his lips when he tripped over... Neville? How had the little bear boy managed to sneak into such a place when he wasn't watching? Fred never got a chance to find out as a large thump hit his back, knocking the wind out of him. Turning his head, he saw blue...

"Charlie?" He managed to get out between gasps for breath. "C'mon! It's your little brother Fred! You wouldn't hurt your baby brother, would you?"

The dragonoid boy lowered his fang filled muzzle to Fred's ear. "As far as I know, you're just pretending. I remember my baby brother being just that... A baby!"

In the stunned silence from Fred, he realized that he had completely lost track of the other kids. He saw a little blond girl saying something that sounded rather like 'disgusting' as Bill, Arthur and Remus threw food on the ground to claim the tablecloth. The tablecloth was ripped into shreds by Ginny, Hermione, Kingsley and Molly. Before he knew what they were about, Fred was bound by the makeshift ropes.

"Hey, you can't do this to me! You said you'd behave..." Like that was going to work...

"No we didn't." That serene sounding voice belonged to Albus. "We never did answer, we just looked at you." He gave an impish grin, his blue eyes twinkling slightly.

Struggling, attempting to see just how good these ropes were, Fred soon found himself being picked up by the two strongest of the kids: The Dragon-Hybrid Charlie and The Bear-Hybrid Neville.

"He's still a bit heavy..." Charlie commented, tottering slightly.

Fred couldn't help but feel a bit indignant. "Hey! Are you calling me fat?"

"Yes..."

"Oh, well as long as you realize I'm going to remember this when you're cured..."

"We need more strength here!"

"Can't you see we're busy?" That was Nymphadora who was leading some of the youngsters in carrying the food that hadn't been ruined to a 'safer' location.

Minerva looked about at her workers, having declared herself Queen of the proceedings as Princess Fleur sat and watched. "Are we witches or what?" The boys sent their 'Queen' glares. "And wizards..." The glares stopped. "Surely more of us have magic like me, Rumble and FireEye..." Apparently she liked the nicknames.

"Sure we do... Remember the nametags? I bet all of us given special nicknames can." That was Severus, pointing to the nametag he still wore with the Severus 'Nightshade' Snape legend.

"Oh yeah!" Minerva bounced a bit, clapping her hands. "That's great, everyone with nicknames try and turn into something."

Harry looked at his nickname. "It would be easier if we knew what our nicknames meant..." He didn't look as comfortable as the others. But since some of the kids had immediately started treating him like their hero when they learned his name the previous night, he was trying to fit in.

Fred, who had still been struggling against the surprisingly sturdy bindings, looked worried. "No... Some of you just liked nicknames when you were older. Think about it, Minerva... You didn't have a nickname, but you turned into a cat."

Frowning at this, Minerva looked down at herself. "Why didn't I get a nickname?"

For one horrible moment, Fred thought she was going to start crying. "You didn't like your nickname." He remembered a name Sirius called her sometimes and hoped it would work; he really couldn't stand girls crying... "You were called Whiskers, but you hated it..."

Minerva's frown deepened, she narrowed her eyes at Fred and pointed her finger at him. "Silence the infidel!"

Before Fred could say anything else, Hermione stuffed a roll into his mouth and tied it there with a strip of the tablecloth. He shot her a betrayed look, but since she was already skipping over to the self-elected Queen, there was little that could be done.

"You know, he might have known what the nicknames stood for..." That was Kingsley, looking amused as he helped Luna carry a rather large chunk of ham out of the room.

"I should have thought of that..." Minerva was distracted for a moment as Fleur said something in French. "Yes, that makes sense." She rounded on Hermione. "You heard her! Your nickname indicates a type of cat. Start thinking!"

No one seemed too concerned that Neville had gotten tired of waiting and had dropped Fred. Charlie, not to be outdone, dropped him as well. Both hybrid boys ignored Fred's muffled yelps as they turned to watch the Wildcat.

"Me? Do you have any idea how many kinds of cats there are?" Seeing that the Queen wasn't going to relent, Hermione huffed and started thinking... "How did you turn into a cat?" She hoped that Her Majesty would have some pointers.

"Dunno, just wanted to." Well that was helpful.

Little Hermione was rather cute as she tried to concentrate on various kinds of cats. Unfortunately, she wasn't getting anywhere... At least not until she had a hissy fit over her lack of progress. Her face had gone from concentration, to annoyance, to frustration, to fury in a matter of five minutes. When she hit fury, that was when her Animality hybrid form was triggered and she grew, shifting before the wondrous eyes of the others.

"Wicked!"

"Bloody brilliant!"

"Teach me!"

Hermione, startled by the sudden shouts, looked down at herself. She was a bit taller, a lot stronger looking, and had a tail! "Cool!" She flexed. "Now I can play with the boys!" This seemed to delight the girl and she skipped over to help Neville and Charlie.

"Onward!" Minerva led her group out of the dining room.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

In a dark room somewhere in the house...

"This is going to be wonderful... Soon I'll pay them back... I'll pay them all back!"

The evil laughter following that whispered statement went unheard...

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

**BONK!**

"HAHAHA! Did you hear the sound his head made?" Charlie seemed delighted _every_ time they bumped into a corner and Fred's head made the hollow bonking sound.

Fred didn't seem to appreciate his _big _brother's sense of humor... Not to mention he had been feeling a bit woozy since the third time Charlie had _accidently _bumped him into something!

"Oh look! We're here."

"Finally!"

Fred was unceremoniously dropped to the ground, facing into... The Library? He looked around, tables were laden with the food from the dining room and things had been pushed aside. A fire was burning merrily in the fireplace and... The portrait of Mrs Black was _smiling_ as it talked to little Sirius and Severus?

Luna, Albus, Bill, Molly, Nymphadora and Harry soon arrived from their most recent assignments; their arms laden with various clothing from several wardrobes. Minerva was delegating members of her court. Apparently Ginny and Fleur were her Princesses while Ron, Draco and Bill were the Princes and, from the sound of things, she was going to hold a battle to determine the King!

Feeling a bout of laughter coming on, Fred nearly choked on the roll in his mouth before a rush of fear arose... Along with him! His carriers had picked him up again and before he knew it, Fred's ropes were threaded over a pole and he was set up near the fireplace! He couldn't help struggling as Neville and Charlie turned him on the improvised spit!

_George! _Fred tried telepathy. After all, twins were supposed to be able to manage that, right? Why was the voice in his head laughing at him instead of agreeing? _George help! They're turning me into grilled Fred-ka-bobs down here!_

Thankfully, Fred's career in Quidditch insured that such things as being turned around on a spit didn't make him dizzy and he was able to continue to watch the really rather fascination process of determining the King... All while trying to ignore the encouragement Mrs Black was giving to the kids for their attempts to cook him!

The Princesses and Princes were all regally adorned in various fancy garments that had been brought down from the bedrooms. The Queen, dressed in the fanciest of the oversized clothing, paced in front of several boys while her henchmen worked the spit and her henchwomen Hermione and Nymphadora kept the boys in line.

Sirius had abandoned his talk with his mother and was standing with Severus, Remus, Kingsley, Arthur, Colin and Harry in an effort to try their luck at becoming King. Molly was off to one side, writing some tips from Mrs Black as Sirius had asked her to and Albus had appointed himself as Supreme Mugwump to the Queen... Whatever that was! Luna had decided that she was the Queens spiritual advisor, a position that apparently Minerva liked as Luna was now garbed in almost as fancy oversized clothing as she wore!

Fred's spinning was stopped long enough for Charlie and Neville to adorn what Minerva called the HenchWear, this ended up being oversized green tee-shirts that looked like dresses on them. Nymphadora and Hermione were matching shirts and all four delegated 'Henches' had belts ripped from the tablecloth holding the shirts in place. Charlie didn't appreciate the wardrobe change, and ended up destroying his shirt before he managed to get his wings in place...

"Now, all those wishing to become my King must carry out several daring tasks..." Minerva stood atop one of the recliners, staring down at the line of boys. "Those of you with nicknames must find out what your nickname stands for..."

"I can tell you mind now." Remus piped up, looking bashful. "Mine has to do with the full moon... Cause I'm a werewolf."

Remus' confession brought gasps from all the other kids. These were soon followed with looks of awe and Remus found himself the center of attention which only made him blush and try to hide.

Minerva, suitably impressed, nodded. "Those that don't make King will all become Knights in the Royal army!"

Her declaration delighted the other boys. After all, being a knight was cooler than being King because they got to go out and do the cool quests while the King just sat on his lazy bum...

"For your first tasks... I need..." She paused to count the boys. "Seven different things, not found in this room, that are red!"

At her words, the boys scattered...

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Quite some time later, while Minerva and her royal court thought up tasks for the impending crowning, Fred had been forgotten. Charlie and Neville had gotten bored of cooking him and moved the spit just far enough away from the fire that Fred wouldn't get too hot... However, he was still dangling from the pole.

Half asleep, Fred only seemed to rouse when the kids cheered as the champions returned from various tasks and one by one the champions dropped out, becoming Knights as they failed their tasks... Finally, the loudnest cheer yet arose.

"I give you, King Colin!" Minerva kissed the new King on the cheek causing Colin to blush a bright red.

Somewhere during the coronation party, Minerva's attention finally wandered... This just happened to be when the fire turned green and a body came tumbling out of the fireplace, smacking into Fred.

"Fred! What the hell is going on in here? Who are all these kids?" Lee Jordan looked around, amazed at the scene that greeted him.

The twenty kids had gone silent as they stared at the newly arrived Lee. He gulped, noting that Fred seemed to be helplessly tied and took a step back. "Um, I'll just be going then, shall I?"

Colin raised a hand, finger pointing at Lee. "Stop him!"

The newly named Knights of the Cat pounced on Lee from all sides. Since they didn't have the items to build a second spit, they were forced to tie Lee to a chair. Lee, unaware that Fred had been in place for several hours, took it all as some simple game.

"So.. Did I come at a bad time?" Lee asked the gagged Fred, chuckling at the growl he received in response.

"No talking!"

Turning his head, Lee found himself looking into the familiar amber eyes of the twins' girlfriend. "Hermione? What happened to you?" He looked around, recognizing some of the more obvious children, such as the Weasleys and the hybrids. "What..." Lee never got to finish his question as he soon found a roll stuffed into his mouth by Nymphadora.

"He's cute." Nymphadora remarked, her skin turning a shade of black and her hair forming into dreadlocks until she was a mini-female-Lee.

Lee's cheeks burned at the comment and the use of Nymphadora, aka Shift's, powers. His slightly wild eyes looked around the room as Minerva stood atop a table.

Mrs Black was whispering something to the young witch and Minerva was agreeing. After a few minutes, she turned to face her court. "Now that we have crowned King Colin, we shall have a party!" With those words, Minerva threw cookies a handful of cookies into the air.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

It took less than an hour of the 'party' for Lee and Fred to decide that kids, when not properly supervised, were completely nutters. Though Fred may have come to that conclusion several hours before Lee...

Minerva's elegant ballroom style party lasted perhaps five minutes before Sirius and Severus started disco dancing in the middle of the room. Neither of the two _adults_ in the room would ever know where the mirror ball came from, but somehow or another, one was hanging from the ceiling. The mirror ball seemed to have a strange effect on Remus that some of the other partying kids found amusing...

Remus was... Dancing... Butt naked... With pink warpaint streaking his body...

Apparently the other kids thought this was hilarious as they were cheering Remus along.

Neville and Nymphadora were curled up in a corner sleeping while Luna, Colin and Ginny looked as if they were going to be joining them soon. Minerva was praising the skills of her 'most energetic Knight' while Harry and Arthur danced with Molly. Fleur had decided that the party was too wild and was looking at the pictures in a book which Albus attempted to translate for the little French witch. Hermione was wrestling with Charlie, the two hybrids finding the game particularly amusing as much giggling was involved from both parties. Kingsley, Bill and Ron were eating like savages from the feast.

Minerva and Molly's shrill squeals of amusement and loud cheers soon revealed that someone else had joined Remus in his tribal dance... Little Draco Malfoy, his platinum blond locks, bouncing with soft angelic curls, wore nothing but purple war paint as he joined Remus in a wolfish dance beneath the sparkly mirror-ball.

And that was the scene that met George's stunned eyes when he finally emerged from his room...

* * *

**A/N:** I hope everyone liked this chapter. I know I had fun writing it! Though I was once again too lazy to send it through the spell check.** :offers sweets to her reviewers: **Whenever I think of little Minerva, I can't help but think 'Mini-Me' for some reason. Entirely due to her name, I'm sure. But still amuses me... Oh yeah, for those that haven't figured it out yet... Charlie and Neville still have their hybrid forms because they plan on taking the Advanced Animality Potion. They still have to be in their current hybrid forms about another month. I figured people would have noticed when I made that note in Hermione's notes... 


	5. Bringing In Reinforcements

Slight Recap:

_"What in the _hell_ is going on?"_

George's brain seemed to be having a bit of trouble taking in the scene within the library. His left eye twitched as the kids all froze in place. As one, the still awake youngsters turned to look at him and George suddenly felt guilty for just leaving his brother earlier... But at least he was smart enough to realize that kids moving as one like that, when not twins at least, were creepy!

Slamming the doors of the library closed, George whipped out his wand and cast a quick locking charm. He backed up. This was definitely an Order emergency! Summoning forth his Patronus, George gave clear, and urgent instructions to the brilliant creature and sagged against the wall as it departed.

Now all he had to do was make sure they stayed in there until reinforcements arrived!

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Inside the newly locked room, the kids all shared a look. They new this couldn't be good and they turned to their self-appointed Queen and her King for answers.

Minerva paced. "This can't be good.. He's gone to do something, we need to be ready for him."

Like a miniature general, she started shooing the younger ones to guard the sleepers. Fred and Lee were shoved over to the side and guarded by the dubious abilities of Mrs Black. The area around the doors was cleared of any food that could be slipped on and those that had discovered their animagus or hybrid forms shifted.

It took less than ten minutes for the kids to have the door guarded, all those awake and energetic enough ready to pounce as soon as the doors opened. They knew that the twin would return... If for no other reason than to save his brother.

Five minutes of waiting and the fidgetting started... Where was he?

Another minute...

And another...

**SLAM!**

The doors banged open and the tense kids all fell over in shock!

Before they could right theirselves and carry out their perfect plan to capture George, they learned the folly of their ways...

For in the doorway stood George Weasley, Angelina Johnson, Katie Bell, Alicia Spinnet and Oliver Wood!

Like any good beater worth his weight in bludgers, George had called on the best Gryffindor Quidditch Team for assistance!

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

"Really, Fred... What were you thinking? Twenty against one, honestly!" Alicia tried her hardest not to laugh as she untied the squirming Fred Weasley from his prison.

"I thought they were actually going to behave..." Fred's voice was rough from being gagged with a roll for nearly six hours.

"Why didn't you just eat the roll?" Angelina wondered as she finished untying Lee from the chair.

Shaking crumbs out of his hair, Lee grinned. "Trying to watch my weight..."

Katie snorted as she and Oliver carried the sleeping kids out of the room. "The day you watch your weight Lee, is the day you stop commentating!"

Oliver still couldn't do more than laugh at the entire situation. "I swear I thought Voldemort had returned with the urgency Prints put into that message."

"C'mon, Alicia... Hurry." Fred whined and, as soon as he was free, he tore out of the room like a bullet. Moments later a loud sigh of relief could be heard. More than one of the girls blushed.

A sound suspiciously like a giggle came from Lee. "Glad I was only trapped about an hour or so..."

"Well this place is a mess. I dare say that trying to make the kids clean it will only make things worse so..." George waved his wand a couple times, cleaning up the library. A silencing charm was thrown on Mrs Black and the curtains around her portrait were closed.

"George, the kids are filthy. They need baths and some form of punishment."

Katie nodded at Angelina's comment. "Angelina, Alicia and I will transfigure their clothes to fi..."

Katie's words were cut off mid-sentence by irate French screeches. Automatically all eyes turned to where they had last seen Fleur and they blinked.

"Umm... Fleur?"

"Why in the hell did you leave him in charge?" The irate French woman demanded... Woman?

Somehow, Fleur had reverted to normal; Oliver and Lee suddenly became useless as the Veela's charms were once more active. Fleur was still wearing what she had donned while playing Princess and the clothing did much to show off her attributes...

George looked hopefully at Fred. "Does this mean everyone else will turn back soon?" The twins started staring at the other kids, but they remained unchanged.

Meanwhile, Fleur was in a fine French fit. The Veela woman screamed many indignaties that she blamed solely on the twins before storming from the library. Her parting words indicated that she was going to see her mother and wouldn't speak to them again until the _real_ Bill returned.

Once she was gone, Lee and Oliver snapped out of their dazes.

Scowling at Oliver, Katie deposited a very messy Harry Potter into his arms. "Go get him cleaned up." She ordered, feeling that the Keeper could be trusted not to damage his favorite Seeker during such a task.

"Seeing as they've feasted all day... Maybe you should make them have to skip dinner tonight?" Angelina's thoughtful suggestion was met by horrified looks from Fred and George.

"No way!"

"Never! If they want dinner, they get it!"

Seeing the twins' reactions, Angelina was abruptly reminded of things and had the grace to blush. "Sorry, I forgot..."

Mollified, George and Fred gave her a quick hug before turning back to the task of getting the kids cleaned and deciding on proper punishments.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

It wasn't until the next morning that the punishments were given. The kids ended up falling asleep after the suprisingly lengthy task of getting them cleaned up and properly fed. So the currently physical adults gathered together to discuss punishments.

Moody was apparently still locked in hiding or just plain missing and wouldn't be any help. Since it was horribly obvious that the twins couldn't handle nineteen children on their own while trying to find a cure, the team decided to hang around as much as possible.

Fred and George were very happy and promised many things in return... Such as free sweets from their shop, tickets to the next world cup, and even their first born children.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

At any rate, the next morning after breakfast...

"Nooo!" The anguished screams from three of the nineteen were heartbreaking. "You can't take away the books!"

"But my mum's in there!" Sirius didn't know where his real mum was, the portrait hadn't told him, but it was all he had of her at the moment.

"Sirius, you can have supervised visits to see your mother's portrait. But the library is off limits until we say so as part of the punishment."

More pained cries were heard as the kids were separated into different groups. Each group would be under the specific watch of one of the adults at all times. Molly was in tears when she learned that she wasn't going to be allowed into the kitchen again. Harry was hyperventilating at the thought that they would stick him in a cupboard. Remus, Hermione and Severus were mourning the books... By the time breakfast was over, none of the children were happy and all now had chores.

Angelina took Ron, Kingsley, Albus, Minerva and Molly upstairs to start cleaning the bathrooms.

Oliver took Harry, Charlie, Bill, Draco and Sirius outside to move rocks from the area adult Molly wanted to plant a garden in during the coming spring.

Alicia went with Ginny, Neville, Luna and Colin to wash the clothes that had gotten filthy the day before... By hand.

That left Katie to take Hermione, Arthur, Remus, Nymphadora and Severus upstairs and start cleaning the rooms the kids were using.

With matching sighs of relief, George and Fred went to their lab with an orange kitten in tow. They had a cure to brew.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

"Too bad that wretched Veela left. Woulda been nice to see what caused her to turn back while the others are still midgets." George was only half paying attention to the work, petting the purring Crookshanks that was sitting on his blank parchment.

Fred was reading over the notes George had gotten the day before during his work. "That's just it though. The reason she turned back early is because she's a Veela."

George perked up. "Good point. If it runs along the same lines... Then maybe Remus will be turning back soon, too."

"Brilliant! Can't wait to tease him about that wolf dance yesterday..." Fred seemed miffed about the situation.

"Would be nice if Hermione didn't have such a thing for chocolate. She'd have already had the cure made. Even Snape would have been helpful."

"I wouldn't count on that, mate. After all, it took him bloody near two months to cure us of the original Animality potion."

"True... But then again, I think he only took so long on it because he got a vacation from students for a month while working on the cure..."

Pausing, Fred looked up. "You know, I don't doubt that one bit..." He looked more through the notes. "It looks like you're on a lead here with the memory cure. That in itself would be helpful."

Putting Crookshanks down, George started working again. "When they're cured... I say we ask her."

George didn't have to clarify who he was talking about and Fred looked rather surprised. "Are you sure? I thought we were going to wait until she graduated?"

"We've been together two bloody years... Why wait to ask longer?"

After a moment, Fred nodded. "Right. We'll ask her when they're cured."

Sharing a grin, the twins turned back to work with a renewed sense of purpose.

* * *

**A/N:** I've decided I hate my spellcheck, since I'm tired of it trying to tell me that names and Harry Potter terms are misspellings, so I didn't run this one through it either. I might get off my lazy rear end and run the next one through... Sorry if this one was a bit crappy, I had to get some ideas for a third installment in the Animality series out of my mind before I could write this chapter.

Once again, thank you to all my reviewers. There aren't many more chapters in this story, just because my muse is taking more of an interest in the next installment. I really like the Animality reality. Enough at least that I'm toying with the idea of writing down their version of the Final Battle...


	6. Brooms Are NOT For Sweeping!

**A/N:** Because someone reminded me that I had forgotten this little detail...

* * *

"No ones will ever finds Dobby here..." The little House Elf squeaked with nervous tension, hiding himself beneath a large feathery blanket. Of course his hiding place might have been a bit better if it _had_ been a blanket.

"Squawk!" Buckbeak ruffled his wings, jostling the little elf around before settling down to sleep. He hadn't taken too well to the idea that Dobby absolutely refused to leave _his_ room.

Dobby patted Buckbeak's side. "There, there... Nice friend. You won't hurt Dobby. You know Dobby didn't means to take the twinses chocolate." Giving a yawn, Dobby soon fell asleep next to the hippogriff.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Less than an hour after breakfast, Oliver Wood found himself leading five very disgruntled looking young wizards out into the cold January air. All were warmly wrapped in soft layers and given the extra benefit of a warming charm. Looking at the youngsters, Oliver took them to the area Molly had marked out before the first snow fall.

"I shouldn't be doing this!" The whine was almost predictable. "When my father hears that you're trying to work me like a House Elf..."

"Oh shut up. At least it's too cold to worry about degnoming." Bill glared at the little Malfoy. Despite the day of play, it seemed that the Weasley/Malfoy rivalry still existed.

Draco narrowed silver eyes at Bill. "Just because Weasleys are too poor to afford House Elves doesn't mean that you should attempt to force such work on your bette.." Draco was cut off mid-tirade by a hard bonk against his head. "Ow!"

Turning, Draco was about to start screeching about abuse when his words were halted by the angry glare of the blue haired Weasley... Charlie crossed his arms, his miniature dragon hybrid body larger than all of the boys outside for punishment.

"Do _not_ make fun of Weasleys." Charlie's eyes were bright with internal fire, showing Draco just why he was given the nickname FireEye.

"You boys knock it off and get over here." Oliver snagged Charlie and Draco by their ears and pushed them into the area they were to clear. "Get busy before I find a worse punishment." He frowned slightly, watching as the two Weasley boys reluctantly started helping Harry Potter.

Harry was diligently picking up rocks and tossing them beyond the area marked for the garden as if he were used to such tasks. Charlie and Bill, both growing up with Molly Weasley as a mother, were soon as hard at work as Harry. Sirius Black and Draco Malfoy were the problems.

Both Sirius and Draco were raised as spoiled brats in Dark families. It was entirely probable that their behavior the previous day would have been overlooked, met with painful punishments, or encouraged! As such, it took quite a bit for Oliver to convince the two to start helping. In the end, he had to threaten to tie them to bludgers and set them loose before they pitched in and helped Harry and the Weasley boys. This led to a question from Harry...

"What's a bludger?"

Stunned, it took all of three minutes before Oliver remembered Harry hadn't grown up in the wizarding world and, with his current memory and age problem, wouldn't remember years of Quidditch playing. Once he had recovered, the Quidditch Keeper went off teaching young Harry all about his favorite sport. Soon the other boys had joined in and the work was forgotten.

Nearly an hour later, Oliver seemed to remember himself and sent the boys back to work. This only lasted a good ten minutes before the rock throwing turned into snowball throwing and the fact that they were supposed to be doing chores was forgotten.

None of them seemed to notice a sinister shadow creeping around the yard and toward the house...

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Upstairs, Hermione and Severus were gazing out the window of the room the girls had been sharing. They had already cleaned up the mess and were waiting for Katie to come and check up on them.

"That's hardly fair... Why does Sirius get to play while we have to work?" Severus pouted, crossing his arms as he glared down the window at the snowball fight.

Hermione wasn't really listening. She was watching Charlie. "I've always wanted a dragon, you know. I didn't think they were real before yesterday..."

Severus rolled his eyes. It just figured he'd get stuck working with a _girl_. "Of course they're real. Where do you think they get the hides for dragonhide boots and gloves and other clothes?"

Squeaking, Hermione turned horrified amber eyes to the slightly shorter boy. "They skin the dragons?"

"Not all of them." Quick to reassure the half-feline girl that would probably beat him to a pulp if she got upset, Severus turned to look back out the window. "We should go sneak dow-..."

"What was that?" Hermione whipped around, glaring at the cleaned room. "Did you see it?"

Whirling in place, Severus gazed around the room. "See what?"

"It looked like a shadow..." Hermione narrowed her eyes. "Probably just my... What's that?" She pointed under one of the beds where something gold glimmered.

"Gold? Why didn't we see that when we were cleaning..." Severus joined Hermione in heading over to investigate the glimmer of gold. Extracting the glittering object, Severus' eyes grew to the size of tennis balls. "Bloody Hell!"

"What? It's just a gold broom..."

"I've never seen a broom like this! It must be worth a fortune..."

"Why would a broom be worth a fortune?"

"Silly girl! Wizards and witches fly on brooms! I've never seen one like this before..." Severus turned it over before making a disgusted sound. "Figures, it's your's." He handed it to Hermione.

Hermione blinked, taking the broom in her hands and gazed at it. The handle glittered golden, obviously well polished, and the tail twigs were straight and neat, also golden in color. The whole broom sparkled like a forbidden treasure. But the gold color wasn't the most interesting part. On one side of the handle, the nickname _Wildcat_ was shimmering with claw-slash style letters that seemed to burn like eternal flames. The other side held a pure gold intricate circle in a Celtic weave. The circle seemed to be made of three pieces and was pierced with a lightning bolt etched of the same shimmering fire that the _Wildcat_ name burned.

"But who would give me a broom? Such a fancy one too..." Then it dawned on Hermione what Severus had said. "Witches can **really** fly on brooms?"

Severus nodded. "Yes, now get on that broom! I want to see how fast it flies..." Severus went over to open the door, gesturing to the broom.

"Ok... Here goes..." Hermione mounted the broom in a clumsy way that spoke of her Muggle heritage and before she knew what she was doing, she was out the door in a flash!

"AHHHHHH!"

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Little Remus Lupin was heading upstairs, arms filled with the newly washed clothes that Neville had given him to take into the room he was helping Arthur and Molly clean when he suddenly felt... Odd. Thinking that perhaps it was just a bad time of the month for him, he didn't pay it much mind. Then the odd sensation became much stronger.

About to scream for Katie, Remus' attention was diverted when a scream came from upstairs. He saw heads poking out of bedrooms and others out of bathrooms before a glimmer of gold caught his eye.

A glimmer of gold heading right toward him!

Remus was about to duck when that sickening jolt hit him again and suddenly he shot up nearly twice as tall as he had been and a killer migraine kicked in. "What the..."

He never even had a chance to wonder at what happened before Hermione, mounted on a golden broom, barrelled into him and knocked him down the stairs.

Still screaming, and now covered in various garments, Hermione's broom went into a spin before shooting off with the feline hybrid clinging to the handle. The broom seemed to rev itself before breaking through a window and shooting outside.

Startled screams came from the snowball fight as the broom barely skimmed over their heads before angling up and zipping into the air!

Acting fast, Oliver darted inside. "Was that Hermione on her special edition Firebolt?" Not waiting for an answer, the Quidditch star grabbed his own Firebolt and zipped off in hopes of catching up to the faster, not to mention out of control, broom.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

It took nearly two hours for Oliver to catch Hermione and by then it was hard to tell if she was still screaming in fright or if it was delight! All he knew was that he had to confiscate her broom when they got back as well as Harry and Ron's special edition firebolts and every other broom they might have used in other such stunts.

"Wish I'd been part of the Golden Trio. Maybe then I'd have gotten one of those brooms." Oliver was clearly impressed.

Remus wasn't as impressed, having gotten a broken leg in his tumble down the stairs. As it was, the werewolf now adult once more, was sitting with his head in his hands. His leg had been mended and all was well, but he was absolutely mortified.

"How could you let me dance around naked?"

Fred and George, who had emerged from their lab only half an hour before Oliver got back, found this hilarious.

"Are you kidding? You helped tie Fred to a spit!"

"Did you have to remind me?" Fred was soon in a similar pose to that of the lycan.

As it had turned out, only Angelina and Alicia had managed to successfully punish their charges. Katie was apologizing profusely to Remus, not certain how Hermione had gotten the broom when it should have been in a completely different room.

After much deliberation, they finally decided that they couldn't find out just who was to blame for the accident. The twins were hopeful that it would help with Hermione's dislike of flying when she reverted to normal, however.

At dinner that night, Sirius seemed rather upset that 'Remus' had turned adult on them and glared daggers at the boy-turned-man. Remus found it amusing, but then got worried when he saw Sirius turn and start whispering to Severus in a familiar Marauder-ish manner...

"I knew it!" George startled everyone at the table, standing upand pointing at Remus. "It creeps him out just as much as us!" He was rewarded with a roll being tossed into his face!

Not a good idea...

Once the first missile was thrown, that was all it took as little hands snatched up food and yet another food fight broke out at the table!

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

That night, gathered in the sitting room, Fred and George entertained the children with an awesome tale of 'The Boy Who Lived' battling a mighty basilisk. Those wizarding children of the right age to know who 'The Boy Who Lived' was, were awed and some glanced at little Harry who blushed through the entire story.

"Why did you have to make me The Boy Who Lived in the story?" Harry grumbled, attempting to pat his hair down.

The older ones snickered to themselves at the question and the twins didn't really answer the question as they were still enacting the tale.

"And finally, once the foul dark wizard had once more been defeated, the mighty Boy Who Lived gave the fair maiden Ginevra a kiss! And the kiss woke the maiden from her enchanted sleep, falling even more in love with the Boy Who Lived To Be Her Hero!"

Ginny, her face flaming, applauded loudly with the other kids as the twins bowed.

"You two are going to be great dads one day... Will you let me meet your kids?"

Choking over thin air, the twins turned suddenly beet red faces to find little Molly Prewett looking questioningly at them. "Er... Well, if we get married and have kids, you'll be one of the first to know." They grinned.

Molly smiled, happy with that answer and immediately asked for another story.

"Tell us another one about the Boy Who Lived!" Ron cheered.

Thinking about it, the twins shared an evil grin. "This one is the story of the Boy Who Lived, the Werewolf, and the Evil Ratman..."

It only took them about five minutes to convince Remus to step into the role of the Werewolf as the kids listened raptly to the tale.

* * *

**A/N: **I know it took me forever to get this one out, and I do apologize. But there was a very good reason for me to take so long! I wrote a special chapter for Animality! It has been appended to the end of Animality and all those interested may want to go take a peek! The next chapter will be the end of Chips and the third installment in the Animality Series will begin! 


	7. Epilogue

**A/N:** Fair warning, my favorite ship is Hermione/Twins. If you don't like the prospect of that tripairing, how on earth did you manage to get this far into the series? In any event...

* * *

It turned out that George and Fred were so willing to goof around the previous night because they had finally found the cure. At least that's what everyone assumed when the grown up, grumpy looking Crookshanks bounded into the kitchen the next morning. The ginger monstrosity paused, looking up at his mistress with an expression as close to disbelief as a cat could manage before hopping up onto Hermione's lap. 

"Wow... Magic kittens sure do grow fast..." Harry's innocent comment drew a few 'awws' from Alicia and Katie.

Breakfast went smoothly, one of the few meals they had without a food fight, and soon the twins bounded up to their lab to get the cure...

Unfortunately, the twins are easily distracted...

"George... Whatever happened to Dobby? Or Moody, for that matter?"

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Neville whirled in place, his black beady bear eyes scanning for something. His eyes narrowed, a frown coming to his small muzzle as he searched.

"You felt it too, didn't you?"

With a startled yelp, Neville twisted around to find Hermione standing nearby. His gaze moving around, Neville found that all those in partial animal forms had perked up as if sensing something. "I... I think there's a ghost here."

"A ghost? Really..." Hermione looked more thoughtful than disbelieving.

Neville nodded. "I saw a shadowy thing around last night."

"I thought ghosts were supposed to be silver, not shadowy." Albus seemed thoughtful as he adjusted the lay of the frilly cravat tied around his neck. It gave him an old fashioned look that he insisted completed his wardrobe.

"Maybe it's a ghoul?" Arthur's suggestion was met with thoughtful expressions as he wagged his long, fluffy red tail, the white tip drawing more than one hybrid's attention.

Looking around, Albus saw Oliver and Katie had drawn Angelina and Alicia into a discussion about having a friendly reunion type Quidditch match, leaving Remus as the only one really watching the adults. At the moment, Remus was talking with Minerva, Luna and Ginny about something or another.

Thinking, Albus turned to the nearby children. "Why don't we go hunt down this spectre?"

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Neville and Nymphadora caused the distraction. It wasn't completely an accident when Nymphadora tripped over her own feet and went tumbling into the bear cub. Neville was bowled over by the smaller girl hitting him at an awkward angle and started wailing. The wailing was mostly fake, the loud sounds drawing the attention of all the adults as well as most of the girls. In the fuss to tend to Neville, the others slipped out of the room.

Severus, Sirius, Kingsley, Albus, Arthur, Hermione, Charlie, Bill, Colin, Draco, Harry and Ron moved quietly into the large house... Well, as quietly as a group of kids could manage.

"Ow! That was my tail!"

"Well sorry! I'm not used to people having tails!"

"Everyone has a tail, most of them are just too small to notice."

"Shhh! Do you want to get caught?"

"Don't shh me!"

Eventually, the group made it a safe distance from the house. They were ready to scatter at a moment's notice should they be caught. The hybrids were leading the way, noses in the air as they sniffed for traces of anything unnatural.

"I think I've found something. It's been in the house all along, but it doesn't smell like anyone we see all the time." Charlie's thick, spade-tipped tail wagged as he gestured to the area where the scent seemed to be coming from.

The others joined in, reaching the conclusion that there must be some ghost or ghoul on the other side of the door. Sirius reached to open the door, since it was his house after all, but it was locked.

"Are we wizards or what?" Ron seemed annoyed and amused.

"We are, but we don't exactly have wands, do we?" Bill shook his head. "Are you certain that you're our brother?"

Ron's ears turned red. "Ginny didn't use a wand when she turned Percy's hair green."

"Yes... Wands aren't that common back home." Albus looked thoughtful. "Let's just direct our energy to opening the door."

The group, save for the confused Colin, Harry and Hermione, turned toward the door. They focused their magical energy and, before they knew it, the door was blasted off it's hinges revealing a startled man standing on the other side.

"It's the Meanie Man! He's the ghoul!"

"Ghoul? Get him!"

The group charged into the room, intent upon capturing the ghoul. Unfortunately they didn't realize the 'ghoul' was going to defend himself and soon they were dodging as he tried to send spells at them. Fortunately for them, the 'Meanie Man' underestimated the speed of the pint sized Order members.

"Argh!" Thud. Crash. Bang...

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

"What was that?" Katie looked up as if the ceiling were about to fall.

Alicia looked up as well, shrugging before turning her attention back to Neville. But something caught her eye. "Umm... Guys? Where are the other kids?"

Turning around, they found only half of the children that were supposed to be present.

"Uh oh."

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

"Meanie Man has been sneaking around here!"

"He was supposed to help Gred and Forge..."

"He should be punished!"

"He killed Harry!"

Turning, the kids saw Harry lying sprawled on the ground near Colin. Thankfully Harry wasn't dead, merely stupified and roused when Colin's panic brought forth the Muggle-born boy's magic with a silent enervation.

"He lives!"

"Wow, no wonder they called him The Boy Who Lived last night! He just won't die!" Sirius was impressed.

"Meanie should be punished! He didn't help the twins and tried to kill Harry!"

"I have the perfect idea... It's something I've wanted to do since this mess started." All eyes turned to Severus.

Sirius grinned. "Is it the thing we've been talking about?"

"Oh yeah..."

Moody's magical eye rolled frantically as he searched for some escape. Who the blasted hell had taught these kids how to tie ropes and gags so well anyway?

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Leaving the women to tend the fort, so to speak, Remus and Oliver headed out into the house to search for the sneaks. That is to say, Remus followed his nose and Oliver followed Remus. It didn't take them long to track the kids upstairs and down the halls, especially since they could hear giggles and muffled screams coming from the room Alastor Moody used when staying at Headquarters.

Exchanging a glance, Remus and Oliver tiptoed over to the doorway and peered inside. Their eyes went wide when they saw Alastor strapped to a chair while Sirius and Severus took turns shaving off his hair!

A snort of laughter escaped Oliver. Thirteen pairs of eyes whirled around, twelve of which widened as they spied the adults standing in the doorway.

Remus backed up slowly. "Move slowly... Don't make any sudden movements..." He was murmuring softly to Oliver as he attempted to escape. "If we're lucky, we'll get away..."

The previously widened eyes narrowed.

"Forget it! Run!" Remus turned tail and unashamedly ran from the terrors.

Oliver wasn't as lucky.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Fred and George finally emerged from their lab to find Remus glaring at them.

"Just what were you two doing that took so long?"

Exchanging a glance, the twins spoke in unison. "Needed to make sure we had enough for everyone."

Giving the twins a suspicious glare, Remus finally nodded acceptance. "Take care of the ones in the den first. Then they can help us subdue the wilder ones."

George gulped slightly. "Do we even want to know what they're doing now?"

Surprisingly, Remus smirked. "Probably."

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

"Bill! Charlie! Ron!"

The three in question froze automatically at the sound. Only one thing could get that kind of reaction from the three Weasley boys. Turning, they saw the intimidating figure of their mother standing with her hands on her hips and glaring at them.

"Y-Yes, mum?" Charlie was a bit braver than the other two.

"What do you three think you are doing to those men?" Molly gestured to Alastor and Oliver. "And the rest of you as well!"

With the arrival of a mother-figure into the situation, it wasn't just the Weasley brothers that had frozen. Arthur had dropped the quill he was using to draw on Alastor and had hidden behind the bound man. Albus was scuffling his feet and looking quite repentant. Harry looked as if he were about to bolt for a hiding place while Hermione who was protectively blocking both Kingsley and Colin from view. Draco had hidden beneath Moody's desk as soon as the first shout penetrated the room. Severus was trying to pass the blame on to Sirius who, in response, suddenly turned into a little black puppy that whined and whimpered in such an adorable way that it was impossible to be angry at him.

Standing behind Molly were Fred and George, both looking as if they were trying not to laugh at the scene. Remus was there as well, his face a mask of neutrality.

"All of you, march your rear ends down stairs at once!"

Bill, Charlie and Ron scrambled out of the room at high speeds, being caught at the bottom of the stairs by Minerva and Ginny and directed in the appropriate direction. Soon after the others came charging down only to be snared by Neville, Luna, Nymphadora, Katie, Alicia and Angelina. With the new adults to kids ratio, none of the little ankle-biters managed to escape.

Upstairs, Molly muttered profuse apologies to Alastor and Oliver. Once they were untied, Alastor handed Molly the wands he had taken at the beginning of the situation and clomped out of the room, vanishing from sight. Oliver was whining much like a little girl as he ran his hands over his bald head.

"Now, now dear... We'll get a hair growth potion whipped up in no time!" Molly soon bustled everyone out of Alastor's room and downstairs.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Taking the potion was easy enough and soon everyone was back to normal. Sirius and Severus had glared death at each other before both swept off to separate parts of the building. Neither would ever speak of the ordeal again. Remus was still mortified over his naked wolf dance, while that same dance seemed to amuse the Hell out of Draco. Hermione was trying to make amends to Fred for helping tie him to a spit. Bill had gone to find Fleur. Charlie thought the entire thing was hilarious and talking to George about marketting the chocolate chip biscuits that had caused the whole mess.

Basically, everyone was doing their own thing. Some opted to go home and some remained to help clean up the place and have another celebration party... Sans chocolate chip biscuits.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Later that night, as the party dwindled down, the original Animalities were lounging around the fire in the den. Taking up one couch for themselves were Fred, Hermione and George. George was lounging against the arm furthest from the fire with Hermione snuggled against him and Fred snuggled against her from the other side. Ginny was cuddled on Harry's lap as he sat in an oversized armchair. Ron was seated on a smaller couch absently brushing his fingers through the fur between Draco's ears. Draco was in his full wolf form and sprawled out on the couch with his head resting on Ron's lap. All seven were staring absently at the fire, enjoying the peaceful moment.

"Hermione?"

Rousing from her trance-like state, Hermione made a soft questioning sound at George's soft murmur.

"There's something we want to ask you..."

Fred's imput got Hermione's attention and she rose slightly to better take in the twins from her sandwiched position. "What is it?" Feeling something against the side of her that was pressed against the couch, Hermione turned and found both twins pulling something from a pocket. Her eyes widened.

Held between their joined hands, Fred and George were offering Hermione a ring. The ring was a Celtic twist of two thin golden bands that supported a polished, cut amber that sparkled like a cat's eye. As she gazed at the ring, Hermione seemed to have forgotten how to breathe.

"Will you marry us?"

It wasn't just Hermione. Though the twins question, spoken in unison, was quiet, everyone in the room had heard and they were all holding their breaths as they waited expectantly.

Hermione's gaze turned from one twin to the other. She chewed on her lower lip as she considered the offer. Finally, she smiled. "Yes!"

The others erupted into cheers and howls as the newly betrothed trio shared in kisses.

Draco's telepathic voice brought amusement to the group. "It's about damned time, too!"

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Moving away from the door where he had just witnessed the engagement, the twinkling eyes of Albus Dumbledore turned to the sound of approaching footsteps. "Hello, Alastor. So glad to see that you found the hair growth potion Molly brewed."

Moody grunted and held out a camera. "Here's the blasted thing you wanted. Though why you tricked Dobby into grabbing those chocolate chips I'll never know."

The two men walked off into the house together as Albus secured the film from the camera. "Ahh, Alastor... There is much to be said for a chance to momentarily relive one's youth..."

"Albus, are you ready to head home?"

Nodding farewell to Alastor, Albus walked over to Minerva. "Of course I am, my dear Minerva."

Minerva turned a smirk to Albus as she reached for the floo powder. "That's Queen Minerva to you!"

-:The End:-

* * *

**A/N:** I hope I didn't make anyone think the twins were perving over little Hermione like icky pedophiles. I was trying to hint that their girlfriend, not to mention all the little red head kids running around, was bringing out their paternal natures. I'd think that most, if not all, Weasleys would easily fall into parental roles. Anyway, the prologue for the third installment of the Animality Series has been posted! Check out "Apprentice of a Meddling Old Coot" if you wish to continue following the Animalities! 


End file.
